Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine - Issue 20 - Usadojo

I Don’t Like Your Self Defence
Whenever I look at self-defence
requirements in most martial art syllabi
(including Taekwon-Do) I am left with much
concern. Where do these requirements
come from and how are they relevant to us,
here and now, to my students?
One of the first self-defence requirements
in the syllabi of most Taekwon-Do and
other martial art schools is a release from a
wrist grab. One has to wonder why this is
so? Surely this is not the most common
attack, is it? Ask ten people who have
been in physical confrontations and see
how many of them were actually grabbed
by the wrist. Of all the students I’ve taught,
only one has told me of having been
grabbed by the wrist. Maybe another
reason for this self-defence technique
being taught to a beginning martial artist is
because it is such a simple manoeuvre?
Merely pull the arm free at the grip's
By Sanko Lewis
weakest point, namely the thumb. Even so,
the simple wrist grab scenario is never that
simple.
In a real life situation, the wrist grab is
usually just a set-up for a more serious self
-defence scenario. If an attacker grabs
your wrist / arm / clothing, it is usually a
setup for another attack. At least three
scenarios come to mind: (1) the attacker
grabs you to keep you close so that he can
pummel you with his free fist; (2) the
attacker has another weapon, probably a
knife, pressed against you and has taken
hold of you so that you cannot easily move
away from the weapon; (3) the attacker
has taken hold of you in order to pull you
away for better positioning, so that he can
continue his assault somewhere else. In
only one of these three scenarios is the
wrist grab release the first priority. In the
first scenario the chief priority is not
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